The first meeting of the roundtable focused on descriptions of crime trends in the United States and situated them in historical and comparative context. Presentations at the meeting discussed U.S. crime trends in historical perspective; crime trends, disaggregated by offense type; regional/local variations in crime trends; gender, race, and ethnicity of victims and offenders; and U.S. crime trends in international perspective. This information provided a detailed backdrop for assessing the factors that may have contributed to changing crime rates.